The Games of Our Lives #1

This is the beginning of a small section we’ve decided to call “The Games of Our Lives”. In the next few weeks, we’re talking about those games which have meant a lot to the members of Sons of a Bit.

Borja3D Artist

I’ve never had a favorite genre regarding video games. I just enjoy all types of games If I had to choose what 5 games have been the most influential for me, or at least those I’ve enjoyed most, I would say the following ones:

Age of Empires, which isn’t the first game I played (that was Tiberian Sun), but I can say this is the one I spent more time on when I was a kid. The best thing for me was its amazing map creator.

Need for Speed Underground 2 is a game I remember very fondly. In fact, I still think this is the best and most complete NFS so far.

DayZ is a game I’ve played countless hours in the last 4 years. It’s still in alpha stage, but its possibilities are endless. They have created a game without specific purposes, nor story, and at the same time it has so many people hooked. In my opinion, it means it’s a good game.

I’ve been playing FIFA, maybe the most mainstream game in my Top 5, since the edition of World Cup 98. So for me, it’s compulsory to list it here.

Although I could talk about other 50 games, I’m including Call of Duty 1 and 2. These games are quite old, but its stages and story were really immersive and I felt part of the squad.

RoldánGame and Level Designer

Choosing only 5 games is a very complicated task. After a lot of consideration, I’d say these are the games which have been really influential for me personally and professionally:

1. Planescape Torment: This game was a turning point for me, since it made me question several aspects about my life and how I wanted to face the world. The reflection about the idea of redemption, apart from being an introspective voyage of personal discovery, made me start my own voyage of self-discovery.

2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. The Sith Lords: Maybe, the game which made me decide I wanted to create stories and new worlds. The richness of its argument has made me played it again and again in different moments of my life since it was released in 2004, when I played it for the very first time.

3. Inside: The narrative design still amuses me. It’s able to transmit complex information, and of great relevance, without using a single dialogue. Since I played it, I perceive the game design in a completely different way, it’s a clear step forward for this industry.

4. Divinity: Original Sin 2: This is a game which provides you with so much freedom to do things such as beating a final boss throwing it its own paintings to its head is something amazing, in video games and in any other part. It allows you “cheat” absolutely everything: from the dialogues (you can talk to an NPC and, meanwhile, use another character to steal something from him/her) to the way you progress in the game (a too difficult combat? Skip it!). Those “cheats” have been planned delicately. Everything, completely everything, is measured and balanced. From my point of view, it’s the most important RPG in the last decade (and beyond).

5. Vampire: The Masquerade. Bloodlines: The development of this RPG had to stop hurriedly due to luck of funds, introduced some of the biggest advancements in terms of narrative and stages ever created. One of its levels alone made possible the way Amnesia and others transmit the feeling of fear. It’s narrative is so complex that, depending on which characters you’re controlling, all the dialogues in the game may be different. Even the paths you must follow might be different!

RaúlArt Director and 3D Artist

Although I like a lot of different types of games, I think I prefer those which provide players with real freedom and those that let you have great times with your friends.

There’s a game which has fascinated me for how I felt while I was playing in its open world full of secrets, but with a perfect purity and simplicity. This game, which I’ve completed 5 times, is Zelda – A Link to the Past.

Also, Minecraft is a game I love for the crazy things people can make using their imagination to try to survive in the community of the game.

The mixture of platforms and cooperative/competitive strategic combats which Smash Bros offers, together with those touches of madness with a lot of items and power-ups to use, has made it’s one of the sagas I’ve played most.

Final Fantasy Cristal Chronicles Echoes of Time is a multiplayer adventure for Nintendo DS, perfect to be played with 3 friends or more. From this game, I’d highlight its good story, its great platform elements, its addictive real-time combats with magic and weapons, the amazing and challenging multiplayer puzzles and some bosses I’ll never forget.

For all this, Terraria is, undoubtedly, my favorite video game, since it’s a game you can play alone of with dozens of friends at the same time. Moreover, it’s a game that mixes all the features I’ve already described in the aforementioned titles. Each one of them means a lot to me, and has marked me somehow.

Xenia3D Artist

When I think that working on this industry was something I used to consider impossible, I look back and I realize how video games have always been important for me. It’s unbelievable the great things I’m doing at Sons of a Bit and all this is thanks to the love I feel for animation and video games.

Countless hours in my childhood were spent on discovering different worlds, living multiple lives as my favorite characters and, over all, having great times with those people who were together with me in those happy moments. When I wasn’t playing, I was drawing the worlds and characters from those games. That’s why, I think a good game must have a good story and attractive visuals, so you feel intrigued to check ever single detail about the place you’re about to discover.

The two most important games in my childhood are Okami and Kingdom Hearts, for their design, story and all the good times I’ve had playing them. I still play them some times!

On the other hand, I’m a huge fan of sagas such as Obscure, Project Zero and Resident Evil. I have good memories from them, since I beat them with my mother when I was a little girl.

Recently, I’d say that Portal and Ori and the Blind Forest are the games which have amused me most and made me want play them until I complete them.

Also, the cooperative games I’ve enjoyed a lot are Cuphead and Don’t Starve Together. Why deceiving ourselves? A good game is even better if you can enjoy it in good company. These two games are perfect to laugh, frustrate, have the satisfaction of surviving and improve.